A committee selected by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research awarded UAB and four other centers as Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders sites-

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has been chosen by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research as one of five academic centers to host the third class of The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders.

By increasing resources for specialized training for clinician-researcher neurologists, the program — made possible by The Edmond J. Safra Foundation — aims to grow the global base of movement disorder specialists treating people with Parkinson’s and contributing to research in the field.

“There is an increasing need for neurologists who have expertise in diagnosing and managing movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease,” said David Standaert, M.D., Ph.D., John N. Whitaker Professor and Chair of the UAB Department of Neurology. “We are honored to have been selected by The Michael J. Fox Foundation to help grow the number of clinician-researchers, as these experts are positioned to provide individualized patient care while leading research toward enhanced disease understanding and treatment breakthroughs.”

UAB is now recruiting a neurology resident for the 2018-2020 Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders class.

A committee of advisers selected by MJFF named the five centers. The others are: Columbia University Medical Center, New York; Massachusetts General Hospital | Harvard Medical School in Boston; University of Michigan; and Toronto Western Hospital in Ontario, Canada.

“We are honored to have been selected by The Michael J. Fox Foundation to help grow the number of clinician-researchers, as these experts are positioned to provide individualized patient care while leading research toward enhanced disease understanding and treatment breakthroughs.”

—David Standaert, M.D., Ph.D.

“By working with distinguished academic institutions to increase the number of movement disorder specialists, we can ensure people with Parkinson’s have access to personalized care from experts at the forefront of research,” said Lily Safra, chairwoman of The Edmond J. Safra Foundation. “This program will ultimately benefit people with Parkinson’s, who will receive remarkable care and have research designed with their interests in mind.”

MJFF and The Edmond J. Safra Foundation launched the program in late 2014 with the goal of improving the landscape of Parkinson’s care at both an individual and a population level. The clinicians trained through The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders will design and conduct studies with their patients’ unmet needs in mind. From the front lines, they are poised to observe trends and nuances of the patient experience that can lead to investigations toward greater understanding of disease and open new avenues to better therapies.

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